"A sophisticated survey of the best recent work on bodies and desires across cultures and through time, this collection of essays shows how gender, sexuality, and power are historically connected and practically intertwined. Contributors include Susan Bordo, Judith Butler, Jane Collier, John D'Emilio, Michelle Rosaldo, and others. 28 illustrations". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

Levit, Nancy. The gender line. Men, women, and the law. New York and London: New York University Press, 1998.

"Despite tremendous advances in civil rights, we live in a world where the sexes remain sharply segregated from birth to death: in names, clothing, social groupings, and possessions; in occupations, civic association, and domestic roles. Gender separatism, so pervasive as to be almost invisible, permeates the fabric of our daily social routines. Preferring a notion of gender that is fluid and contextual, and denying that separatism is inevitable, Nancy Levit dismantles the myths of gender essentialism Drawing on a wealth of interdisciplinary data regarding the biological and cultural origins of sex differences, Levit provides a fresh perspective on gendered behaviors and argues the need for careful cultivation of new relations between the sexes". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

"Eugenics was a term coined in 1883 to name the scientific and social theory which advocated "race improvement" through selective human breeding. In Europe and the United States the eugenics movement found many supporters before it was finally discredited by its association with the racist ideology of Nazi Germany. Examining for the first time how eugenics was taken up by scientists and social reformers in Latin America, Nancy Leys Stepan compares the eugenics movements in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina with the more familiar cases of Britain, the United States, and Germany." Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

"Postcolonial theory has developed mainly in the U.S. academy, and it has focused chiefly on nineteenth-century and twentieth-century colonization and decolonization processes in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. Colonialism in Latin America originated centuries earlier, in the transoceanic adventures from which European modernity itself was born. Coloniality at Large brings together classic and new reflections on the theoretical implications of colonialism in Latin America. By pointing out its particular characteristics, the contributors highlight some of the philosophical and ideological blind spots of contemporary postcolonial theory as they offer a thorough analysis of that theory’s applicability to Latin America’s past and present". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

"This anthology touches on a wide range of themes: female colonels in the revolution, machismo applied with scissor snips in Mexico City, the cinematographic treatment of indigenous women, divorce in conservative circles, women's education, the construction of new families, labor-union life, rationalized sex, activism among women in Catholic and rural organizations, and sexism in the Popular Front... The book offers a complex, coherent panorama, energetically distancing itself from generalizations. It is well known that God, the devil, and attentive readers are in the details." Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

"A fascinating, oblique entry into the mind of one whose own writings ... are a brilliant questioning chronicle of contemporary culture and values' Nadine Gordimer 'This fascinating collection of interviews beautifully manifests these paradoxical self-positionings and deep ambiguities, and in the process offers a portrait - all the more striking for being so unselfconsciously self-conscious - of a vitally interesting individual' A.C. Grayling, Independent on Sunday 'Lucid, passionate ... forthright honesty and steely lucidity' Terry Eagleton, New Statesman 'This collection serves as a kind of intellectual biography: reading interviews is reading a man's life through the people who ask questions. It is difficult to think of any other literary official who would be worth the treatment' Scotsman". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

Salvatores, Ricardo D.; Aguirre, carlos, ed. The birth of the penitentiary in Latin America: Essays on criminology, Prison reform, and social control, 1830-1940. Austin: University of Texas Press; Institute of Latin American Studies, 1996.

"Opening a new area in Latin American studies, The Birth of the Penitentiary in Latin America showcases the most recent historical outlooks on prison reform and criminology in the Latin American context. The essays in this collection shed new light on the discourse and practice of prison reform, the interpretive shifts induced by the spread of criminological science, and the links between them and competing discourses about class, race, nation, and gender. The book shows how the seemingly clear redemptive purpose of the penitentiary project was eventually contradicted by conflicting views about imprisonment, the pervasiveness of traditional forms of repression and control, and resistance from the lower classes". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

"Silviano Santiago has been a pioneer in the development of concepts crucial to the discourse of contemporary critical and cultural theory, especially postcolonial theory. The notions of “hybridity” and the “space in-between” have been so completely absorbed into current theory that few scholars even realize these terms began with Santiago. He was the first to introduce poststructuralist thought to Brazil—via his publication of the Glossario de Derrida and his role as a prominent teacher. The Space In-Between translates many of his seminal essays into English for the first time and, in the process, introduces the thought of one of Brazil’s foremost critics and theorists of the late twentieth century". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

Sewell, William H. Logics of history. Social theory and social transformation. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2005.

"While social scientists and historians have been exchanging ideas for a long time, they have never developed a proper dialogue about social theory. William H. Sewell Jr. observes that on questions of theory the communication has been mostly one way: from social science to history. Logics of History argues that both history and the social sciences have something crucial to offer each other. While historians do not think of themselves as theorists, they know something social scientists do not: how to think about the temporalities of social life. On the other hand, while social scientists’ treatments of temporality are usually clumsy, their theoretical sophistication and penchant for structural accounts of social life could offer much to historians". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

"Controversial, challenging and outspoken, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is one of the most visible and controversial cultural critics of our time. Her reputation was first made by her translation and preface to Jacques Derrida's ground-breaking work, Of Grammatology. She has since built a global reputation in feminist, marxist and literary criticism as well as post-colonialism, a reputation underpinned by her active involvement in the practical politics of women's empowerment, third world education and development debates. In these thought-provoking interviews and talks, we see her being provocative, playful, personal and accessible in a way that her complex, theoretical essays do not allow. The interviews collected here reflect the international character of her intellectual engagement with the ideas and the politics which are shaping our world". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

"While the United States was founded on abstract principles of certain "unalienable rights," its legal traditions are based in British common law, a fact long decried by progressive reformers. Common law, the complaint goes, ignores abstract rights principles in favor of tradition, effectively denying equality to large segments of the population. The nineteenth-century women's rights movement embraced this argument, claiming that common law rules of property and married women's status were at odds with the nation's commitment to equality. Conventional wisdom suggests that this tactic helped pave the way for voting rights and better jobs. In Constitutional Context, Kathleen S. Sullivan presents a fresh perspective". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

"How did marriage come to be seen as the foundation and guarantee of social stability in Third Republic France? In Sexing the Citizen, Judith Surkis shows how masculine sexuality became central to the making of a republican social order. Marriage, Surkis argues, affirmed the citizen’s masculinity, while also containing and controlling his desires. This ideal offered a specific response to the problems—individualism, democratization, and rapid technological and social change—associated with France’s modernity". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

"This ambitious set features 205 signed articles from 242 scholars in 22 countries and claims to be "the largest comparative history project in the world." It covers five centuries of various multidisciplinary aspects (including historical, political, social, economical, and geographical) of Latin American culture on the grounds that literature responds to and enriches the culture from which it derives. The scope of Latin American literature here is extremely broad and expands on the traditional canon to include marginal authors and Brazilian literature, although English-, French-, and Dutch-speaking cultures of the Caribbean are mostly excluded". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

Wheeler, Leigh Ann. Against obscenity. Reform and the politics of Womanhood in America, 1873-1935. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.

"Against Obscenity is an excellent book and an important contribution to the literature of women’s history…[and] the history of sexuality." -- Estelle Freedman, Robinson Professor in U.S. History, Stanford University". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

Williams, Gareth. The other side of the popular. Neoliberalism and subalternity in Latin America. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2002.

"Drawing on deconstruction, postcolonial theory, cultural studies, and subaltern studies, The Other Side of the Popular is as much a reflection on the limitations and possibilities for thinking about the politics of Latin American culture as it is a study of the culture itself. Gareth Williams pays particular attention to the close relationship between complex cultural shifts and the development of the neoliberal nation-state. The modern Latin American nation, he argues, was built upon the idea of "the people," a citizenry with common interests transcending demographic and cultural differences. As nations have weakened in relation to the global economy, this moment—of the popular as the basis of nation-building—has passed, causing seismic shifts in the relationships between governments and cultural formations. Williams asserts that these changed relationships necessitate the rethinking of fundamental concepts such as "the popular" and "the nation." He maintains that the perspective of subalternity is vital to this theoretical project because it demands the reimagining of the connections between critical reason and its objects of analysis". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

Wolfe, Joel. Working women, working men. Sao Paulo and the rise of Brazil's industrial. Working Class, 1900-1955. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1993.

"Based on archival data on oral histories, work examines rise of Brazil's industrial working class by focusing on female and male textile and metallurgical workers in Sao Paulo". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

Woods, Thomas E. The church confronts modernity. Catholic intellectuals and the progressive era. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.

"Though he is writing about the Progressive Era, Thomas Woods deals with issues that are still both timely and relevant. He explores how American Catholics redefined the limits of faith and doctrine in an age of social and intellectual transformation, a time when cherished orthodoxies seemed ever more at odds with secular assumptions. The Church Confronts Modernity is thoughtful, well-written and rewarding." -- Philip Jenkins, Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies, Pennsylvania State University". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

"Robert Young provides a wide-ranging analysis of postcolonial theory's emergence from anticolonial movements in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, tracing the development of a transnational third-world counter-modernity through the work of major figures of the freedom struggles, including Cabral, Connolly, Fanon, Gandhi, Guevara, Nkrumah, Mao, Mariátegui, and Senghor, and through the roles played by women activists". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad

Young, Robert J.C. White mythologies. Writing history and the west. London and New York: Routledge, 2004.

"Beginning with Helene Cixous' indictment of history as a"story of Phallocentrism, " Young investigates the different concepts and operations of "history" Western thought--from classical and critical Marxism through post-colonial critiques of Eurocentrism. He traces the various attempts by Hegel, Marx, Lukacs, and Sartre to produce a more coherent theory of history, and more recent efforts by Althusser and Foucault to produce a "non-historici st" history. Ultimately, White Mythologies argues that all attempts to write history as a single narrative are doomed to failure". Ver más detalles y disponibilidad